Journalists write "knowingly" on the situation in Israel without ever living here; without first hand knowledge of what it means to live in this tiny country in the midst of a rather unfriendly neighbourhood.
I write without vengeance, without hatred, just what I experience,the view from my veranda and the thoughts in my head.
My archive is available at www.lingomatics.com/Shabbatshalom/index.html

About Me

I am a freelance journalist living in Jerusalem. I strive to tell the truth as it is never seen in the media - the life of one Israeli trying to get along with everyone but not willing to deny her past nor her identity.

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Shabbat Shalom from Sheila

09062525th June 2009.

Shabbat Shalom!

Do not make the mistake of believing that Iran is a long way away from where you live and their political instability is a Middle East problem. Iran our problem; Iran is your problem; Iran is the embodiment of what is going wrong in the world.

A young woman was shot before the cameras and the American President is sad but it just isn't enough. The riots have nothing to do with whether Mousavi or Ahmedinejad won the elections – they are both evil and they are both puppets of the Ayatollahs. When one listens to the reason and logic of the Shah's son Reza Pahlavi in this interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHdfkLsIosk one recognises that these riots express a frustration which has nothing to do with voting or politics. The Iranian people lived in relative freedom, before James Earl Carter deposed the Shah and introduced the Ayatollahs to the infinite corruption of absolute power. The people of Iran want their freedom back; freedom of action, freedom of speech, freedom of dress; freedom for women and most of all freedom of prayer. If they succeed then maybe it is the tiny window of light in a very long tunnel which may be the turning point of Islamo-facism in this world. http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090622/wl_mcclatchy/3257877

While horrors are committed all over the globe, President Obama, through Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell, has demanded the halt of all building over the green line, especially in Jerusalem; Jewish building that is. Even supposed "friends" of Israel, Berlosconi of Italy and Sarkozy of France join the chorus. No-one has criticized illegal Arab building in Jerusalem, which receives full (Jewish) Municipal services. This from a world that accused Israel of disproportionate response!

Ben Caspit and Ben-Dror Yemini wrote a brilliant article in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv, commenting on the disparity in judgment of Israel and of the Moslem world; the article is called "Where is Everyone?" talking of the lack of condemnation of the Iranian situation. Here is a small taste, and a link to what I believe to be an accurate translation from the Hebrew.

Now of all times, when the Basij hooligans have begun to slaughter innocent civilians in the city squares of Tehran? Aren't they connected to the Internet? Don't they have YouTube? Has a terrible virus struck down their computer? Have their justice glands been removed in a complicated surgical procedure? How can it be that when a Jew kills a Muslim, the entire world boils, and when extremist Islam slaughters its citizens, whose sole sin is the aspiration to freedom, the world is silent? http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2009/06/where-is-everyone.html

Our dear friend Canon Andrew White sadly reported the deaths of two British hostages in Iraq, despite his tireless, 2 year, fight for their freedom. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/21/iraq-british-hostages . His tragic report emphasised the plight of Cpl. Gilad Schalit who was kidnapped and taken to Gaza in a bloody attack three years ago today. Three years of pain for his family, three years of intense political and diplomatic efforts on Israel's part and he is still held in unknown conditions, unknown danger. Neither the Red Cross nor Amnesty has seen him despite the clear breech of the Geneva Convention. Shame on them that it goes unremarked, again the expectations are disparate and the results a disgrace. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Behind+the+Headlines-+Six+months+in+terrorist+captivity+11-Jan-2007.htm

Dr. Yoram Blachar, longstanding President of the Israeli Medical Association, was appointed as President of the World Medical Association. A petition was created to depose him because he is an Israeli. The petition to depose him is a test case for an Israeli since he is due to end his term in October. Support Dr. Blachar, the IMA and

Israeli medicine. http://www.petition.fm/petitions/ima Please sign and send this letter on to anyone you feel might be interested in expressing support. It cannot be that an Israeli is hounded from his position for being an Israeli – the country whose contribution to medical research far exceeds proportion. Racism, pure racism.

Today democracy worked. The correct decision was taken at the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency when Natan Scharansky (who Dr. Len Cole describes as "the tallest short man he knows") was chosen as the new Chairman of the Jewish Agency. There were attempts to scupper his election, for all the wrong reasons. I believe that he is the right man in the right place, respected and respectable, the epitome of everything the Jewish Agency stands for. His accent in English is irrelevant since both his heart and his brain are in the right place and he has paid his dues. Mazal Tov Mr. Scharansky; from Anatoly to Natan- from the gulag of Siberia to leader of the Jewish world.

G'day Shalom Salaam Israel On Tuesday evening we had the honour of attending the grand dinner of the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange http://www.aicec.org/ . Albert Dadon is the driving force behind the AICE, and with our lovely friends Paul and Vivienne Zimmet and the inimitable Saul Same, we experienced the warmth which poured forth from the Australian politicians and artistes. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Senator Peter Costello exuded understanding and love toward the Jewish State. They are proud that Australia was the first YES vote in the UN for Resolution 181 on November 29th 1947 - the founding of the State of Israel. Time and again it is the Australians who stand up for democracy and justice, including self-criticism for what happened to their own indigenous peoples. It was a joy to sit and listen to politicians who had nothing to gain from their kind words other than ensuring their own integrity. Senator Guy Barnett of Tasmania was particularly moved by the story of the ANZAC brigade in Beersheba and their fight against the Ottoman Empire. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22681087-25209,00.html

Those of you in the New York area should take note of a very important symposium in which Dr. Leonard Cole will participate. The symposium on Terror Medicine and Security to be held on July 15th at the UMDNJ- New Jersey Dental School www.umdnj.edu/ccoe/medical

So that was my week! No time for the Shouk! To tell the truth I wasn't too keen to go anywhere without air-conditioning as the temperature soared. We celebrated our anniversary several times!!! We were taken to a Sarit Haddad concert in Jerusalem by Rosa and Bernardo Romanowsky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhK5wLAEWy8 ; Zvi took me for a romantic sushi meal in Jerusalem's gorgeous German Colony and then last night we went for Italian with Saul Same and his sister Sarah. Saul is such an amazing man, in his gentle and kind manner he has ensured the Australia-Israel connection is solid and endless.

I wish you all a fine and peaceful weekend. Shabbat Shalom and much love from Jerusalem, the incredibly beautiful and much maligned capital of Israel – heart of our world.